Scientists grew nearly defect-free fibers of frozen water with counterintuitive properties. Try to bend an icicle and it’ll snap in two. With its tendency to crack into shards, ice’s reputation for being stiff and brittle seems well-established. But thin, pristine threads of ice are bendy and elastic, scientists report inContinue Reading
Analysis of a rare, ancient star suggests a new birthplace for elements like uranium and silver Violent explosions of massive, magnetized stars may forge most of the universe’s heavy elements, such as silver and uranium. These r-process elements, which include half of all elements heavier than iron, are also producedContinue Reading
The Deep Space Atomic Clock could help spacecraft reach distant destinations on their own An atomic clock that could transform deep-space travel has successfully completed its first test run in space. NASA’s Deep Space Atomic Clock, which launched on a satellite in June 2019, outperformed all other clocks in spaceContinue Reading
An elusive source of ripples in spacetime has finally been found Caught in a fatal inward spiral, a neutron star met its end when a black hole swallowed it whole. Gravitational ripples from that collision spread outward through the cosmos, eventually reaching Earth. The detection of those waves marks theContinue Reading
Sparse, spindly scales and a waxy membrane coating are behind the insect’s transparency. Most butterflies sport colorful, eye-catching patterns on their wings. But some species, like the glasswing butterfly, use mostly transparent wings to hide in plain sight. To figure out how these Central American butterflies go incognito, researchers putContinue Reading
A farmer living near Ismailia in Egypt has uncovered a 2,600-year-old stela erected by pharaoh Apries, who ruled from about 589 B.C., to 570 B.C., the Egyptian antiquities ministry reported. The farmer found this ancient slab of sandstone while preparing his land for cultivation, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) northeastContinue Reading
People living across Europe around 1,400 years ago had a habit of reopening graves and taking out objects for reasons that archaeologists are trying to understand, according to a new study. “The practice of reopening and manipulating graves soon after burial, traditionally described — and dismissed — as ‘robbing,’ isContinue Reading
Does it keep them up later? The summer solstice, which marks the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, happens Sunday (June 20) at 11:32 p.m. EDT (Monday, June 21 at 03:32 UTC). This event happens when Earth’s tilt toward the sun is at its maximum and theContinue Reading
Knock-on effects could transform the Amazon rainforest into savannah As climate change continues to heat the planet, ice sheets and ocean currents could destabilize each other, leading to a climate domino effect impacting 40% of the world’s population, according to new research. And these effects could be seen at wayContinue Reading
Let’s dive into the science of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, one of hundreds of billions in the observable universe. It’s also our home. Like other galaxies, the Milky Way is an isolated collection of stars and other material bound togetherContinue Reading